Saturday, January 14, 2017

NINA'S ORIGINALS

Robert said to me" Take a break, you've been working awfully long hours."

I do tend to put the nose to the grindstone when I have a show coming up. I had to get some big orders out of the way and now I'm concentrating on my new line. " What kind of life is this, sewing, sewing, sewing?" he asked.

It got me to thinking that, in a way, it is exactly what I wished for. In the 1970's in Juneau, I would walk to the B.M. Berands Bank where I worked as a key puncher. Everyday I passed this place and I would peer in the window of Nina's Originals. She made fantastical coats and hat out of leather that was laced together and trimmed with fur and feathers. You could see her work station with all the leather laid out, her desk with day to day business and her small tv. I thought that must be a pretty fine way to go. And it is. It turns out after many years of the broke artist life, living in ramshackle cabins, hauling water and wood and no electricity, I'm finally living the high life like Nina. A dynamite work environment where I can create my pieces and I even have the little tv to keep myself entertained while I do it. Funny how things turn out. Anyhow, it got me curious so I did some poking around and this is what I found. There was one picture of a coat she made at a Juneau Museum site but( not allowed to share.) If anyone out there has a photo of her work or store, it would be brilliant to see! Here is the loon dress that I did way back in the Juneau days, and I realize I was experimenting around with the lacing techniques she used. I don't know if her work was an influence but her work life did make me target a goal.

End of the Trail

Notices in this section are limited to names of those who have achieved pioneer status through many years in the North, or who are otherwise of unquestioned importance in the daily scene.

Nina Emily Chapman, 76,a Juneau businesswoman since 1946. died there January 30. She designed and patented Nina's Originals. Alaska coats and accessories sold throughout the United States, Her daughter. Nina Dawn Baldwin, now runs the Nina's Originals shop In Juneau. [June1981]

2 comments:

So nice to see/hear a little of your past life and your inspirations. Your work is SO amazing and wonderful. And I still enjoy reading your Blue Bead book! My grandkids enjoyed it as little ones...but I look at the pictures and story still!

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Can an old trade bead find new life in print? Could the saga of an 18th century blue Bohemiam bead be a book that will hold interest for children and artist alike? This book "The Blue Bead" is a fictional account of a young beadworkers experience with the gift of an old trade bead and how it finds its way into her life in present day Alaska. It is based in part on historical fact. Where a bead has been and who its previous owner was often remains a mystery. The 25 illustrations were laboriously beaded, each taking over 200 hours to complete, some much more than that. "The Blue Bead" has taken 10 years to finish and is an exquisite labor of love by author/illustrator Kate Boyan.

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Almost all my beadwork comes to fruition in the form of beaded purses. I am a firm believer in wearable art. I like the idea of my pieces being out in the world, traveling here and there, even when I'm at home, sewing at the bead table.

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